His biceps tensed beneath her cheek. “Once.”
Derek was quiet long enough Callie thought he couldn’t tell her more. She understood the kind of memories one stored in scars. The crimson pasts and the ashen secrets. Excavating them was a task in itself, but cobbling them back together to share aloud was a second kind of pain. She wasn’t about to force that abuse on Derek. She closed her eyes, and focused on slow, even breaths. His breathing mimicked hers when they lay entwined at night. Maybe this could help.
The car slowed. Tourists staggered out in front of the car. Derek hit the brakes, but didn’t flip them the bird. They waved and laughed, but didn’t ask for directions. When the car was moving again, Derek finally spoke.
“The Charmer used to have competition. Did you know that?”
Callie relaxed against him. “Maybe? I didn’t pay much attention to the Charmer other than to offer an ambitious side eye to the nurses in the ER who talked about trying out his wares.”
She was perpetually thankful she hadn’t had to collect from any of them. Nothing says look how far I’ve fallen like hypocrisy.
“Within a few weeks of opening his shop a few others popped up. They weren’t like Little D. I mean, they weren’t Charmer-level scary fuckers, but they had more skill than that.”
Soul magic had a steep learning curve. “How did they know what to do?”
“A guy the Charmer knew taught them. He doesn’t talk about him in the same way he doesn’t talk about Tess.”
“Gotcha.” Callie could guess what Derek meant by that. No one was talking to that guy anymore.
“Anyway, so other people open shops, too, and he didn’t handle it much better back then. These other soul magicians hired enforcers.”
“Ford?”
“His dad, I think, but the Ford family.”
“That explains a lot.”
Derek shrugged a single shoulder. “Well, I think the other magicians originally paid for protection. Standard racket from the Ford family, but a couple got it in their heads to push out the competition.”
“They attacked the Soul Charmer? What kind of idiot would do that?” Other than Tess, but she had some weird woo-woo feels about the souls.
“The kind of idiots who didn’t think he had backup.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Boss wanted a show of force. This was about eight years back. So there were only three of us. Plus the Charmer.”
“What happened? What did you do?” She’d told herself not to ask that question, but the absurdity of the situation had sucked her in.
“No other free-standing shops have lasted since. No one goes up against the Soul Charmer of Gem City and wins. That’s what happened.”
Wow. It’s not like she was new to being terrified of the Soul Charmer. He’d done a magnificent job of showcasing his callousness and his power. He’d cultivated an aura of prince meets serial killer. Understanding he’d treat every threat as critical, though, changed the game. That something had hit him hard enough to bring everyone in for the first time in eight years? Motherfucking nightmarish.
Calm breathing was bullshit. The alleyway leading to the Soul Charmer’s emporium came into view. Callie sucked in tiny breaths faster and faster.
Derek put the car in park, and then wrapped his arms around her. “Doll…Callie…it’s okay. You’re okay.”
She pulled the flask from her pocket, and held it in front of them. “He’ll know these aren’t real.”
“They’re real.” Derek was emphatic.
“But they’re not his. He’ll know. He’ll know and he’ll do something horrible, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
Derek stroked Callie’s hair. His touch was firmer than necessary, but it helped. “Calm down. It’ll be okay. We’ll get the souls back for him. We’re just buying time.”
“But what if he already knows?”
“He’s not God, Callie. Whatever we’re in for, it ain’t because of anything you’ve done. Could be about the shit that went down at your apartment with the soul renter. Could be fresh pressure from the cops. Could be a lot of things.” The hard edges of the words matched the sharp planes of Derek’s cheeks. Color rose from his jaw. Here she was breaking down about the souls and Nate when the cops were after Derek. When he’d killed a man. Did the Charmer know Derek had done it with her safety in mind and not because of his loyalty to him? Probably, but would that be enough to protect them?
Callie nodded slowly. Her heart rate didn’t slow to a standard resting pace, but at least she wasn’t hyperventilating any longer.
“We’ve got this,” she said, and wished she had Derek’s power of convincing confidence.
“He called us to help solve his problems. Just remember that when we go in, and you’ll be fine.”
Was he reading her mind these days? Was that some couple shit?
“He always calls us to solve his problems.” The derision in her voice was real, but somehow it helped ground her. She could hold herself together a little longer.
“So it’ll be routine, doll. In, out, and at Dott’s in time for dinner.”
If they could be so lucky.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Soul Charmer’s shop had never been bright. The entrance was set back down an alley with limited lighting and even less foot traffic. Callie and Derek approached the building. Sour tendrils of warning coiled around the base of her neck. The front door, slathered in layer after layer of weathered and cracked black paint, stretched in front of her, ominous and overwhelming.
“We got this,” Derek said. He took her hand and tugged her forward with him.
It wasn’t fear of the Soul Charmer that made her stagger. Not now. A sharp pain slapped her cheek. Gusts of wicked wind rushed through the corridor and whipped behind her back. A jagged block of coal grated against her belly, the wrongness of the moment coalescing in her mind in tangible pain. Callie dug in her heels.
“This is wrong.” Fear leeched all tone from her voice.
She repeated her words. This time Derek stopped, too.
His scowl hardened the longer he watched her. “Callie.” Her name. A plea.
The coal
